Judge to Hear Arguments on MN Crackdown01/26 06:03

   A federal judge will hear arguments Monday on whether she should at least 
temporarily halt the immigration crackdown in Minnesota that has led to the 
fatal shootings of two people by government officers.

   MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- A federal judge will hear arguments Monday on whether 
she should at least temporarily halt the immigration crackdown in Minnesota 
that has led to the fatal shootings of two people by government officers.

   The state of Minnesota and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul sued the 
Department of Homeland Security earlier this month, five days after Renee Good 
was shot by an Immigration and Customs officer. Saturday's shooting by a Border 
Patrol officer of Alex Pretti has only added urgency to the case.

   Since the original filing, the state and cities have substantially added to 
their original request. They're trying to restore the state of affairs that 
existed before the Trump administration launched Operation Metro Surge on Dec. 
1.

   The hearing is set for Monday morning in federal court in Minneapolis. 
Democratic Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said he plans to personally 
attend.

   They're asking that U.S. District Judge Kathleen Menendez order federal law 
enforcement agencies to reduce the numbers of officers and agents in Minnesota 
to levels before the surge, while allowing them to continue to enforce 
immigration laws within a long list of proposed limits.

   Justice Department attorneys have called the lawsuit "legally frivolous" and 
said "Minnesota wants a veto over federal law enforcement." They asked the 
judge to reject the request or or at least stay her order pending an 
anticipated appeal.

   Ellison said at a news conference Sunday that he and the cities filed their 
lawsuit because of "the unprecedented nature of this of this surge. It is a 
novel abuse of the Constitution that we're looking at right now. No one can 
remember a time when we've seen something like this."

   It wasn't clear ahead of the hearing when the judge might rule.

   The case also has implications for other states that have been or could be 
targets of intensive federal immigration enforcement operations. Attorneys 
general from 19 states plus the District of Columbia, led by California, filed 
a friend-of-the-court brief supporting Minnesota.

   "If left unchecked, the federal government will no doubt be emboldened to 
continue its unlawful conduct in Minnesota and to repeat it elsewhere," the 
attorneys general wrote.

   Menendez is the same judge who ruled in a separate case on Jan. 16 that 
federal officers in Minnesota can't detain or tear gas peaceful protesters who 
aren't obstructing authorities, including people who are following and 
observing agents.

   An appeals court temporarily suspended that ruling three days before 
Saturday's shooting. But the plaintiffs in that case, represented by the 
American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota, asked the appeals court late 
Saturday for an emergency order lifting the stay in light of Pretti's killing. 
The Justice Department argued in a reply filed Sunday that the stay should 
remain in place, calling the injunction unworkable and overly broad.

   In yet another case, a different federal judge, Eric Tostrud, late Saturday 
issued an order blocking the Trump administration from "destroying or altering 
evidence" related to Saturday's shooting. Ellison and Hennepin County Attorney 
Mary Moriarty asked for the order to try to preserve evidence collected by 
federal officials that state authorities have not yet been able to inspect. A 
hearing in that case is scheduled for Monday afternoon in federal court in St. 
Paul.

   "The fact that anyone would ever think that an agent of the federal 
government might even think about doing such a thing was completely 
unforeseeable only a few weeks ago," Ellison told reporters. "But now, this is 
what we have to do."